My pickup is a 1994 f150 4x4. I'm planning on changing the ball joints and axle joints on it. Just a while ago I put it up on jack stands and took off both sides. When I went to take the locking hub covers off the actual cap was able to wiggle around on both sides even tho the bolts were tight. They are able to remove around enough that grease has been coming out of them. When I took the covers off and threaded a couple of the bolts back into the hub body, I could actually move the hub body around up and down, and side to side. What would be causing this?

 

Any ideas anyone??

 

Here is what I found and maybe someone can answer a couple questions for me. The body of the locking hub that slides onto the splines of the axleshaft has a bearing in it. Those bearings on both sides are crap, so I'm going to get new Warn hubs. I also found that the part of the axle shaft that comes through the spindle that the hub body goes on, also is able to wiggle around quite a bit. Is that normal? If it isn't, what would be the cause? Am I going to need to change the bearing that is inside of the spindle?

 

The stub shaft can move around a little bit. It won't cause any problems. The outside cover moving around makes me think that one of the two snap rings that hold the hub body in place weren't installed. There is a snap ring that fits over the end of the stub shaft, and another ring that sits just inside the hub housing. It can be hard to see but it's there.

 

I've actually got everything off, and am down to getting the knuckles off. Both snap rings were there on both sides..